Remnant of a Worm Omakes
by Halfmasked
Summary: Omakes from Remnant of a Worm. From comedies to drama, everything goes! None of it is canon to the actual story!
1. RoaW Chibi CH 1

**RoaW CHIBI! Episode 1: What Have I Done?!**

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**NOTHING WRONG HERE**

In the background, team CRDL twitched in pain after being knocked out. Taylor walked forward, clapping dust off her hands from a job well done.

"Man, Taylor, you're out of this world!"

"I am most certainly from this world… I mean… Magic rocks that produce fire and ice are totally normal… and I am not from another universe…"

"Indeed."

"Quite."

"Nothing to argue about in that statement."

Taylor wiped her brow.

"Hey guys. Sorry I'm late. I was in line for this book about whales in-" Blake began.

"Wow, that's really interesting, Blake. But I don't know anything about interdimensional space whales that give people superpowers," Taylor cut in with a stilted voice.

"Well, yeah, that just sounds far-fetched," Weiss remarked. "And oddly specific."

"But it's not really out of the ordinary," Ruby commented.

"Indeed."

"Quite."

"Can't think of anything wrong about that."

Taylor reached up to air the collar of her shirt, her perspiration starting to make it cling to her skin.

"Hey, you guys wanna watch the newest season of 'Love Doves'?" Ruby proposed.

"Sounds like a plan."

"I wouldn't mind watching it."

Blake simply nodded.

"What's 'Love Doves'?" Taylor asked.

A collective gasp resonated from everyone but Taylor, even team JNPR, who just popped around the corner, joining in on the disbelief.

"T-Taylor, you _don't_ know what 'Love Doves' is?" They accused.

"N-no. Never heard of it." This caused everyone to regard her suspiciously.

"You know, it's about these doves with symbols on their bellies and they each represent aspects of friendship and love? Then each episode challenges one of those aspects to teach life-affirming lessons!" Ruby declared fondly.

"You… you mean like 'Care Bears'?" Taylor responded quizzically.

Everyone was silence as they digested Taylor's answer, then they all glanced at one another. Mutual understanding shined in each of their eyes.

"Taylor's from another universe," they all said in tandem.

"What? Nooooooooo. I'm not from a world of superheroes and villains, where giant monsters tried to decimate populations every few months. I can't control insects, that's crazy. I wasn't the warlord of a city too, that's just ridiculous." Taylor stopped to take a breath as she listed all the things that definitely didn't happen. "I totally didn't shoot a toddler either, that's a no-no thing. Also, a god-like being didn't go crazy and start killing billions and billions of people. And I didn't enslave everyone to fight said being like puppets to die for my bidding. Then, I didn't get shot twice in the head by someone who could literally accomplish anything they wanted with their superpower and then sent through a portal to this world, where Ruby found me."

"Well, yeah. That all sounds ludicrous. HOWEVER, you're obviously from another world because you haven't watched a bunch of birds learn love and friendship together," Jaune exclaimed, everyone nodded in agreement.

"And what the hell are 'Care Bears'? Bears don't give a fuck, they'll just fucking eat you," Yang stated, shuddering from remembering a distant traumatic memory.

_[Transition Scene: Ruby skips happily while dragging both Taylor and Weiss behind her, both of whom have expressions of annoyed defeat.]_

**Friendship Rangers**

"Oh no! A giant Grimm is attacking the city!"

The news report quickly changed to a wide shot view of a massive Ursa, taller than most of the buildings, stomping through the streets of Vale.

"Quickly everyone, the Friendship Rangers are needed!" Ruby declared.

"Right!" three voices echoed confidently.

"Ranger Red!"

"Ranger White!"

"Ranger Black!"

"Ranger Yellow!"

Swirls of brilliant colors formed into existence and wrapped like ribbons around the girls, each blazing with their respective color. Another girl watched, unamused.

"…Ranger Grey…" Taylor muttered in the background of everyone else's transformation sequences, instantly becoming Ranger Grey while the others were still spinning in the air majestically.

"Friendship Rangers, unite!" Red Ranger shouted and struck a pose along with all but one of the Rangers. "Alright team, we're going to need the Friendship Engine to battle a Mega-Ursa of this size!"

A quiet sigh escaped Taylor's lips as the other Rangers double-tapped their stylish Ranger Watches to summon their machines.

In the distance, a giant mechanical rose, snowflake, cat, dragon, and spider appeared.

Each Ranger was sucked up into their individual machines before they all started to transform to create a giant humanoid robot.

"Friendship Engine! Ready to roll out!" Ruby announced as the robots finished combining and then struck a pose.

"I still don't get how a mechanical rose becomes a head and torso. Or how a snowflake, which has a different design each time for some reason, becomes a foot," Taylor commented.

"Snowflakes each have entirely unique designs, of course it would be different each time," Weiss answered.

"But it's the same robot."

"And what's wrong with a rose brilliantly blooming into a beautiful person?" Ruby asked with stars in her eyes.

"The way you said that, for one," Taylor murmured.

"Doesn't seem that hard to understand to me. Shouldn't you be asking why the eight arms of your spider combine into one arm?" Yang questioned.

"No, that one's not hard. All the legs just connect to form a thicker limb. Also, why am _I_ the right arm?" Taylor asked frustratedly.

"Well, that was the Friendship Machine you got so…" Ruby said, clueless to the problem.

"You all really can't see the problem with me being the _right _arm?" Taylor snapped.

"Why are you being like this? There's a giant monster attacking the city! There isn't some deep hidden meaning or theme behind who is which body part," Weiss argued.

"What's wrong with being the right arm? I'm the left arm and it's not like that has anything to do with me personally," Yang commented.

"Really? Then why is Blake's machine a giant cat before it transforms?" Taylor questioned.

"What's wrong with being a cat?!" Blake demanded furiously.

"I don't know," Taylor said sarcastically. "Maybe I should list all the reasons you did in your two-hour rant about civil injustice and racism you made as soon as you got the thing?"

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask about that… What was your problem with being a giant cat, anyway?" Yang asked curiously.

"Guys, hello? Giant monster?" Weiss interjected, pointing at the display of her machine that showed the Ursa playing jump-rope with a line of train cars.

"Shhhh, it's okay. This is getting good," Ruby said, before stuffing several handfuls of popcorn into her mouth, which all seemed to disappear instantly down her gullet. "Besides, they can't show people dying anyway, and it's never brought up afterward, so it doesn't really matter. If it doesn't happen on screen, then it doesn't count."

"What did that even mean?!" Weiss yelled frantically.

"Like, I would get that it would be a problem if you were like a cat Faunus or something," Yang said offhandedly.

"Then how is it okay for me to be the right arm?" Taylor interjected to deaf ears.

"W-w-which I am not, by the way. Right, totally normal human person here," Blake retorted totally convincingly.

"Woah, Blake, there's nothing wrong with being a Faunus," Yang replied disappointedly.

"Yeah, Blake. It's the Friendship Rangers, not Friendship Rangers-except-for-Faunus. I thought you were better than this," Ruby stated sadly.

"I can't believe I'm on the same team with someone with such bias against the Faunus," Weiss huffed.

Blake blinked several times and then the Friendship Engine was sent reeling forward as its left leg detached from its body.

"No! There can't be friendship if we split apart!" Ruby shouted melodramatically.

"Quick, Taylor, use one of your spider's legs to make up for our lost limb!" Weiss suggested.

"That's. Not. How. It. Works. I just said, all the spider's legs connect together-" Taylor started.

"It'll be tough since you'll have to use two controllers to guide both limbs. But we believe in you!" Ruby cut in.

Taylor blinked, and looked down in shock as the console in front of her opened up to reveal another controller joystick, on the _right_ side of the original one. Taylor blinked a few more times before the Friendship Engine's right arm detached from the body.

Luckily, Penny came by and killed the giant Grimm as the Friendship Engine stumbled because of its lost leg and then fell again when it tried to push itself back up with its missing arm.

_[Transition Scene: Blake chases after a butterfly, trying to swat at it playfully while Taylor stands in the background controlling the bug.]_

**Commodore Blake Part 1**

The young Ruby Rose was falling.

An iceberg followed after her as the fractured remains of one of Weiss's massive Dust attacks were struck with the full force of a flaming Yang.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted as she watched her sister plummeted towards the ground.

Two blasts from her gauntlets sent Yang flying to catch Ruby, but she was too late, as a blur of grey caught the red reaper from the air.

With only one arm, Taylor caught Ruby by hugging her close to her body, cradling her as they both landed safely.

"You okay, Ruby?" Taylor asked, gently freeing the younger girl from their embrace.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks for catching me," Ruby responded with a thankful smile.

"Just try not to make a habit of standing on platforms that are exploding or crumbling," Taylor remarked with an upward twitch of her lips.

"I'll try not to. Besides, I know you'll catch me if things go bad," Ruby said sincerely.

"If everything is fine, are we okay to continue our spar?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, as long as… Blake?" Yang started, trailing off as she noticed her partner staring at Taylor and Ruby while furiously typing on her scroll.

Blake couldn't let this opportunity slip, not when all this _magic_ was happening in front of her. She frowned as Taylor and Ruby widened the distance between them with a step, to give each other personal space.

"Blake?" Weiss probed, trying to get the Faunus's attention to no avail.

Blake was currently looking back over what she had been able to get down before the two ruined the moment.

_Innocence; to love is to see it die._

_The young woman looked up at her savior, her friend, and teammate._

_Black strands of wavy hair brushed through the air with the breeze as concern, hidden behind a protective wall of ice, shined within Taylor's eyes._

_For a moment, the girl saw how beautiful her teammate was._

_Then again, everything was beautiful in Ruby's rose-colored world. But in this moment, through the scars and pain, she glimpsed Taylor in her truest moment; someone who had come to her rescue, because that's who Taylor was, deep down._

_Taylor's arm ran along Ruby back, with her hand cupped around the younger girl's slender neck._

_For a moment, neither of them breathed. Their landing position had left them mere inches from one other and they both knew that the other would feel their breath if they let it out. Yet, both took in the intimacy of safety they felt with one another._

If they had only gone on for a bit longer, Blake would have been able to get some good dialogue down too.

"Blake!" Yang yelled from beside her, giving Blake's arm a jab as she did.

"What?!" Blake yelped, unaware at how close Yang had gotten.

"You just spaced out. Wouldn't answer us," Yang stated. "Hell, you were so focused and still, you didn't notice the butterfly that landed on your shoulder."

Blake looked to her right and saw the yellow-winged butterfly sitting unnaturally docile on her shoulder.

"Taylor?" Ruby's voice hinted at cautious concern.

Everyone looked toward Taylor and saw her eye's slightly wider than normal, which made it so the slight twitch one of them had all the more noticeable.

"Taylor, did you just catch whatever Blake had? Cause you just zoned out too," Yang asked.

"Hmmmm, no. Sorry. Let's get back to the spar," Taylor declared as she visibly shook herself out of her stunned state.

"By the way, what were you writing, Blake?" Weiss inquired as they all started to walk toward a less damaged section of the practice arena to resume their bout.

"Nothing! Just had a burst of inspiration that ran through my head, so I needed to jot it down," Blake responded a little too quickly, cheeks slightly reddening. The response caused Taylor to trip a bit.

"I see, but maybe save it for when we aren't in a battle?" Weiss suggested with an undertone of reproach.

"S-sure. Of course. I'll save it for later…" Blake replied, not noticing Taylor's gaze.

Blake smirked inwardly. Even if she couldn't write now, she knew that more magic would happen. All she had to do was wait.

_[Transition Scene: Taylor is dragging Nora across the floor by a foot as Nora's fingers drag across the ground.]_

**Taylor-Face Apocalypse**

The door to team RWBYT's room burst open to reveal a panting, frightened Nora.

"Guys! You have to help me! Where is the best place to hide from Taylor? She keeps making that _face_ while trying to get me to work on that… boring… homework…" Nora's blustering request ground to a halt as she looked at the faces of those in the room.

Ruby, Weiss, and Yang, all turned slowly to face her. Their expressions were devoid of all emotion. Blank masks that hid everything, except small tinges of disappointment and judgment that could cut through you like knives.

_The Taylor-Face._

Nora took a two trembling steps back. "N-no… H-how?"

"What seems to be the problem, Nora? That paper is important for your understanding of team dynamics when facing flying Grimm. Are you going to endanger your team just because you can't take some time to work on it?" Weiss asked passively, yet each word was a blow that crashed into Nora.

"I-It's i-impossible. You... you're even _talking _like her?" Nora questioned, horror shaking the syllables as they left her mouth. "Is it contagious?" she added, dread and fear doubling at the possibility.

"What are you talking about, Nora? Are you trying to be a burden to your team? You didn't answer Weiss's question," Ruby intoned in a shockingly similar manner to Weiss _and_ to Taylor.

"I'm sorry friends! I was too late to save you!" Nora proclaimed in anguish as she slammed the door and bolted to her own room.

"Guys! Something happened to… team… RWBYT…" Nora started before she took in the faces of Jaune and Pyrrha.

Both didn't look up from their work as they sat at their desks, as if they knew where she was and what she was doing. The same scary way Taylor did.

"What seems to be the problem with team RWBYT?" Pyrrha asked blankly.

With minimal movement, Pyrrha turned to Nora.

There was no reaction, no inclination of any kind on her face. It was the face of Taylor.

"I was too late…" Nora murmured sorrowfully, tears brimming in her eyes at the loss of her friends.

"Too late for what? Obviously not that paper we have due tomorrow, since you were going to work on that with Taylor. Right, Nora?" Jaune inquired. His own motions were just as still when not moving and abnormally precise as Pyrrha's was.

"Noooooooooo!" Nora screamed as she collapsed to her knees, punching the floor. "Wait," she said as she froze. "Where's Ren?"

"Ren went to meet up with Taylor in the library, he might already be there by now," Pyrrha stated.

"No! I have to get there before it's too late!" Nora exclaimed and sprinted down the halls.

As she ran, she looked left and saw Blake, sitting with a book. Then she saw Blake's face and recoiled in recognition.

"No! Everyone's getting infected with seriousness and soon they're just gonna to look at me with those awful, judging eyes that make me feel bad for not doing boring things!" Nora mourned out loud, sniffling at the loss of another friend as she left Blake behind.

Nora continued her journey, only to see that the infection had spread far more than she realized.

Team TIGR, faces blank as slates. Team CFVY, no more emotion than a broom handle. Even team CRDL were sitting together silently, working on an assignment.

"No! I don't wanna have a super serious face for the rest of my life! I want to have fun at least sometimes!" Nora cried out as she finally reached the library, only to be stopped by a sharp command.

"Miss Valkyrie. No running in the halls!" Professor Goodwitch snapped from down the corridor.

Nora flinched back and covered her face with her arms to block her view of the professor.

"No! Not the Glynda-face! It's. Just. As. Bad!" Nora sobbed as she begged.

"Sorry, Professor Goodwitch. I'll… _take_ _care_ of her," the source of the epidemic spoke as the door to the library opened.

"See that you do, Taylor," Professor Goodwitch stated, leaving young Nora to her doom.

"Please don't… I don't wanna have Taylor-face!" Nora bawled.

"You will Nora. _Everyone_ will." Shadows loomed behind her, nearby curtains drawing shut on their own. "But I can make it stop. All you have to do is finish that paper today and I'll change everyone back," Taylor declared sinisterly, the demoness showing her true colors at long last.

"I will never give in!" Nora shouted defiantly.

"Oh, but what about your precious Ren?" Taylor asked in a sickly-sweet voice, making a dramatic sweeping gesture spoiled by her lack of arm.

"R-Ren?" Nora echoed as the boy stepped out from behind Taylor. "Oh no! He's slightly more emotionless than he was before! Taylor, you fiend! You devil!" Nora cried out in anger and grief.

Ren sighed out loud.

"Even his sighs are lifeless! Well, more so than before. Fine… you win…" Nora declared as she slumped in resignation.

"Perfect, head on over to the back table and we'll join you there," Taylor instructed.

"Okay…" Nora droned as she sadly shuffled her way into the library.

"How did that work?" Taylor asked incredulously.

"You just need to know what motivates her," Ren replied with a smile.

**Episode 1 End**

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**Author Notes:**

**Praise be to PastelStoic and Juff, for looking over whatever this was. Something, something, I'd murder for you, something, something.**

THIS WAS FOR POSTING LATE A FEW CHAPTERS BACK AND I TOTALLY FORGOT TO POST IT HERE SO SUPER SORRY.

Haven't wrote crack before, it was… an experience. This is NOT CANON, though I hopefully shouldn't have to say it. It's not a substitute for a chapter or anything either so don't worry.

For those who don't know the RWBY-verse, there's a spin-off show of RWBY called RWBY Chibi that's just a bunch of short comedy skits. At first they're meh, but there are some gems in there. The transition scenes are in homage to the ones in Chibi.

Maybe I'll do another one of these, we'll see how things go.


	2. RoaW Omake: Stalking Shadows

**Stalking Shadows: An Omake**

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_Taylor_

"- versus Taylor, of team RWBYT," Glynda announced to the class.

I sighed heavily, shaking my head at the sadistic anticipation my bugs saw on my opponent's face.

I had known that I would eventually have to fight her; her persistence on the matter ensured that. At least it would be done in class. Maybe that would be enough to satisfy whatever fixation she now had with me.

"Kick her butt, Taylor!" Ruby encouragingly shouted beside me.

"But, like actually, please do. Girl needs a whupping," Yang commented dryly, Blake nodded in agreement.

It was rare to see such open disdain from Yang and hatred simmer past Blake's usual mask.

"We'll see," I said as I headed down the stairs to the arena and then continued passed it into the locker room.

I opened my locker and grabbed my gun. I loaded both ice and lightning Dust rounds into the clip, putting to memory what order they would fire in.

My opponent stalked up behind me, putting me between her and my locker.

"What's the word? Nostalgic. That's what this is," she stated, the anticipation she oozed only hindered by a slight caution to her actions, even if she would never admit it. "Not going to say anything, Hebert?"

My bugs took note of her every action as I continued my work.

Her outfit was similar to her Shadow Stalker costume, just more armored and medieval. It was a black undershirt with plates of dark grey armor along her arms and shoulders. A hooded vest with a camo pattern of blacks and greys hid her hair but still revealed her face. The sides of it were tied together like a corset and went all along the sides. Woven into it were plates that mimicked defined muscles with angular cuts of metal. Her pants were similarly armored on the outer thigh and shins, hiding the combat boots with sharp spikes jutting out from the backs of their heels. A hard leather belt held a cruel knife and a variety of crossbow bolts along its length. With the outfit, she blended into the darkness of any area.

I finished pressing the bullets into the clip and it loaded with a crisp click before I placed it snuggly in its holster.

Finally, I shut the locker door purposefully slowly before turning to her.

"Just say what you want, Sophia. You've been circling my path since we came across each other here."

"Don't make it sound like I care about you, Hebert."

"I'm not."

Her eyes focused on my own, searching for something. She leaned back and smiled in some kind of assured satisfaction, happy with whatever she thought she found.

"I knew that once whatever fucking power-trip Panacea or Bonesaw or whoever was done, you'd be exactly like I thought you were," she stated, and walked off back to the arena without another word.

So, that was her gripe. Even being brought to another world, Sophia refused to change.

Then again, I didn't know if I'd changed either. At least I was trying though.

As I returned to the arena, I grabbed one of the practice blades off the rack before walking to the opposite side of the ring from Sophia.

The faces of the other students were shrouded in darkness as the only light shone down to mark the edges of the ring.

I faced Sophia. Her eagerness for this fight vibrated through her. Her hands clenched, reveling in the feeling of being fists before opening again.

I didn't see the reasoning or importance she saw in this. After everything else that had happened, that I'd done, why would she think a classroom spar would mean anything at all? There were no stakes, no benefits to winning, no villains to defeat.

Yes, this could just be another chance for her to vent the inexhaustible fury that stormed within her, but I knew about her outings of sneaking off to kill Grimm in the forest almost every day. The trips had helped her simmer down… if only slightly.

There was something else she wanted out of this, I just wasn't sure what it was.

"I've seen some of your other fights, Hebert. Should have kept emulating me instead of trying to outdo Heartbreaker," she smirked.

"I'm not scared of you, Sophia. And trying to goad me into some kind of reaction for this fight won't work either."

"You're acting all pretentious and arrogant just because you got a big victory you _didn't earn_. Now, I got to start showing you your place all over again."

"Doesn't matter if it was earned or not. It was something that was necessary. Didn't matter how much weaker we were than him, how small our chances were, how… immoral it was. Had to be done."

"Don't fuck with me, Hebert. It's always been about power."

"I didn't beat him alone, Sophia. No one could have done it alone. It was about coordinating, not about power. I had to use everyone and everything that could help."

I wasn't sure why, but her expression morphed into a rage that promised a thousand different kinds of pain; it was the most enraged I had ever seen her.

"That is quite enough," snapped Glynda. "Keep your quarreling civil or to yourselves. I _expect_ you both to adhere to the rules for this bout." She glanced at each of us as she spoke. I gave her a nod, but Sophia didn't seem to notice Glynda talking, or she just chose not to regard the warning.

"I will remind you both that this is a practice spar. The match will end when one of your Aura levels drops into critical levels." Glynda waited for a moment for any questions or clarifications before continuing, "If that's understood. Let the match of Sophia Hess of team SCRD (Sacred), versus Taylor Hebert of team RWBYT (Rubinite) begin!"

Two bolts twanged from Sophia's wrist-mounted crossbows before Glynda was halfway through saying 'begin'.

I was already moving too, throwing myself forward into a somersault.

I felt the hiss of wind over my shoulder from the bolts as I rolled. I got up just in time to meet Sophia's snarling charge.

My blade slashed out with a wide arc but only displaced misty air as Sophia phased through the blow.

A roundhouse kick was sent at my exposed stomach, but I jumped toward her in a side tackle before she could fully execute her blow.

She went to phase through me but was shocked back from her breaker state thanks to the scroll tucked in my belt.

Sophia growled savagely as she backed away from me, her teeth ground against each other to fight against the minor electrocution.

I saw her brown eyes blink and then flash into a malevolent, pure red that seemed to center on me instantly.

I leaped back, sheathing my blade and drawing my gun, and waited for some indication of what Sophia's Semblance did.

A smug grin merged with Sophia's look of predatory rage.

"Come on, Hebert. I'll show you how superior I am."

Sophia knew that displaying an obvious second power was something that would have her placed on watch; a fate I knew she would loathe to experience again. Since she wasn't afraid to use her Semblance, it must be something that isn't noticeable.

My bugs didn't feel any change in how fast she was moving or any other effects.

So, probably not a breaker ability. Less likely that it's a striker ability if it isn't noticeable but still a possibility, same thing with it being a blaster power.

I didn't get the chance to speculate further as Sophia launched toward me. The metal limbs of her crossbows shifted mechanically around to act as bladed claws, the wire vanishing within a section of the gauntlet.

I fired my gun at the ground in her path, letting sections of ice burst into form.

Sophia slowed and dodged around the path of my bullets, weaving around the slippery surfaces.

I turned my gun back toward her just as she came within ten feet of me. My rounds whistled through the air at her and she shifted to shadow, expecting ice Dust to pass through her.

The lightning Dust shocked her into small painful spasms even after the bullets pinged off her Aura.

I fired again, this time at her feet.

The first and second round bloomed ice around one foot, but Sophia was able to recover from the shocks enough to dodge the last ice round.

I had two lightning, then one ice round left, but I didn't have enough time to aim and fire, then draw my sword to attack before she phased out of the ice.

So, I threw the gun at her and dashed toward her while drawing my weapon.

Sophia batted my gun out of the way to avoid any more lightning and crossed her claws to catch my sideways cleave an instant after, faster than I thought she could.

A ringing clang sounded throughout the arena as the blades met, and for a small moment, we stood still, our weapons clashing against the other.

I noticed that I was breathing heavily while Sophia was only slightly winded.

"Getting tired, Hebert?" Sophia bit out with a smug smile. "I told you that I'd show you that I was superior."

Her scarlet orbs never blinked as they pierced into me.

Sophia's strength seemed to grow as she easily pushed my blade away with a grunt, but I used the momentum to pivot and deliver a spinning back kick.

She caught the blow with the side of her elbow, the force barely buffeting her.

Sophia tilted her elbow up, moving my leg with it, and followed through with a punch from her other arm.

I couldn't bring my leg back fast enough as her jab smashed harshly against the Aura of my shin.

Sophia then phased out of the ice and delivered a front kick with her newly freed leg.

My arm came up to block and I jumped back with the hit to reduce the impact.

I felt my chest almost heaving with exhausted breaths.

Why was I so tired?

Red eyes.

Sophia's Semblance; some kind of energy leeching!?

No, she was about as winded as she should be for how much we'd fought. It was an energy sapping ability of some kind. She wasn't getting stronger or faster, I was becoming more exhausted and wouldn't be able to keep up.

I couldn't draw the match out any longer.

Sophia flashed her teeth with animalistic delight at my state and got into a ready stance as we both understood that the next move was most likely to be the last.

Her weapons reverted back to crossbows and autoloaded another two bolts that she instantly fired at me as we ran at one another.

I flicked my blade back and forth and swatted the projectiles away.

Sophia took the opportunity to change her weapons back to claws before she leaped into the air for a wild spinning downward crossing chop.

My legs were almost shaking with effort and I knew I wouldn't be able to dodge.

Mutual destruction it is then.

I lanced my blade straight into her undefended guts as her claws raked down my torso.

My strength was too drained to properly take advantage of Sophia's all-out offensive charge, but I think she knew that when she decided to do it.

I heard gasps from the audience as my bugs caught the gauges of our Aura displayed on the screen rapidly flickering to much lower levels.

My sword cut across the Aura of her stomach and went wide while Sophia slammed into me with her shoulder after she finished following through with her strike. I went crashing to the ground with her on top of me.

A burst of pain erupted from the back of my head as it cracked against a patch of frozen stone of my own making.

Sophia mounted me, my arm pinned under one of her knees while the tips of her claws dug into the sides of my neck.

A loud buzzing followed by the lighting of the room switching back to illuminating everything in the room marked the end of the match.

"That's enough. Miss Hebert's Aura has gone into the red. The winner is Sophia Hess."

Sophia didn't move, and her eyes blinked back to their regular brown.

"You get it now, Hebert? I'm better than you, always have been. Stronger, smarter, more _useful_. And don't you ever fucking think otherwise again," Sophia said like she had proven a point.

Wait.

Useful?

"You… you're fucking upset because I _didn't _control you for the fight with Scion? That I didn't _use_ you?!Are you fucking insane!" I questioned in almost hysteric disbelief.

"The only power you had then was to use other people's power. People stronger and better than you because you're too fucking _weak_," she answered. "You've never understood what strength really is. I'm just showing you that you made a mistake in whose power you chose to use."

With that, she got off me and stalked away, a proud triumph holding her posture strong and confident.

I blinked at the ceiling in utter bafflement.

I know I controlled her, I brought _everyone_ into my swarm. But I guess I didn't actually use her for fighting Scion or search and rescue. Her powerset wouldn't have been very effective in either situation compared to the others I had available.

Sophia had said we were cockroaches compared to Scion, but as soon as her position in life is challenged it suddenly didn't matter? Had she wanted me to just throw her life away just to prove something for her?

The sheer _wrongness_ of Sophia's motivation.

Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. I doubt she had even attempted to contextualize it any other way.

I would pity her, but it would be wasted effort.

The fact was, Sophia needed her ideology to help her see her lot in life, no matter how stupid it was. She molded the world to fit her beliefs, because she wasn't strong enough to change herself to fit the world.

* * *

**Stalking Shadows End**

**Author Notes:**

Thank you, as always, to Juff for grammaring me stories gooder than me could.

Next chapter will be a full one, will come out sometime around the 21st.

This was just something I had bouncing around in my head for a bit. Hope it tides people over till the next chapters (cause they became a bit longer than I had intended).** It is non-canon.**

Might see more interludes of snippets of the story if another Worm character was on Remnant but we'll just have to see.

Yes, Sophia is the leader of what was team CRDL, Sky Lark didn't find a partner in the end. Yes, she did remark that she was picked to be the leader of her team while Taylor wasn't. Yes, she didn't like the idea of being in a team. Yes, she's a terrible leader; better than Cardin though. Yes, she didn't like the idea of being part of an organization like the Wards. Yes, she did like it after finding out that Huntsmen are basically mercenaries that can go do whatever after their training is done. Yes, I'm putting too much thought into the backstory of a non-canon Omake.

A thank you to Assembler for the idea for Sophia's Semblance and the Discord in general, everyone there is too awesome.


End file.
